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To be more precise: "je" is pronounced /jə/ (like the e in the German "bitte") while "jij" is pronounced with a diphthong /jɛi/ which sounds a bit (albeit not exactly) like "yay". The English equivalent would be "ge" or "ye" (pronounced with an /e/, not the /i/ that you would commonly pronounce it nowadays) which we got rid of when it merged with its objective declension "you".

I'm finding it hard too. The difference between the two words seems to be one of emphasis, so it seems odd to have both - but that's from an English speaker's point of view. I'd like to know just how important the distinction is in Dutch.